King of The Wall

2020-11-02

Chapter 20 Kingdoms

Robert is not a good king, I am afraid that the Seven Kingdoms, inside and outside the court Few people don't admit it. However, although this guy is full of wine, sex and wealth, and his life is in a mess, he knows very well that he doesn't like and doesn't trust the Lannister family. The original good prime minister and oneself's adoptive father have died, and oneself doesn't want to take care of things but just for fun, so the whole country cannot fall into the hands of the queen's family.

The center of power in the country needs to be balanced.

So he remembered the good brother, Eddard Stark, who was forgotten by oneself in the north.

It's not that simple to ask North to guard King's Landing as Prime Minister.

It's a long story, Westeros' society operates under a typical but slightly weird feudal system: on the surface, the king is similar to the Zhou God-Emperor in ancient China, and the major Dukes are princes, but The problem is -

Among the Eight Great Families who control the nine districts of Westeros today, apart from Robert himself, none of the rulers sitting on the Iron Throne are enfeoffed and supported.

The war in which he wiped out the Targaryen Dynasty and took the Iron Throne was dubbed "The Tribulator" for this very reason: Baratheon didn't really change the dynasty at all, just replaced the Dragon Family Ascension to the throne... The kingdom is still what Aegon looked like after he conquered the Seven Kingdoms.

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Stark in North, Lannister in Westerlands, Arryn in Vale, and Martell in Dorne needless to say, they were already under their respective jurisdictions before the conquest of Aegon. The ruler of the land with the title of the king - not only recognized by the bannermen, but also has the strength to rule. After being conquered, he just gave up his original title and respected Targaryen as king, and he still lived his usual life in the territory.

And Tully, Tyrell, and House Greyjoy of the Riverlands and Reach, and House Greyjoy of the Iron Islands, only surrendered swiftly and in time, from the mighty vassals and subordinates of King Harren and King Reach. The family "upgraded" and replaced the first two, becoming the new owners of the three plots of land.

Only the House Baratheon family rose to the top of the hierarchy because the founder of the house, Orys Baratheon, followed Aegon and made great contributions during the War of Conquest. And even for him, taking over the Stormlands requires occupying the Storm King's castle, marrying the latter's daughter and adopting his flag, coat of arms and motto to secure oneself's rule.

From the point of view of a modern person, Aegon's conquest and First Emperor Qin's feat of destroying six kingdoms and establishing a centralized state are impossible to mention on equal terms. The former only won every key battle with the dragon, a great killing tool. At best, it overwhelmed the Seven Kingdoms. In fact, it did not have the energy and appropriate administrative system to manage the Seven Kingdoms and make them into one. The next best thing is to let countries recognize their dominance.

However, it is not that Aegon is not aggressive, but it is really helpless: due to the special climate and environment, the ice and fire world is backward in technology, sparsely populated, and unable to maintain a sufficient standing army due to underdeveloped transportation. If the whole country cannot achieve the decree, it will be difficult for the royal government to maintain its strength, and it is indeed difficult to achieve centralization.

It is for these reasons that "cut weeds and eliminate the roots" is a very rare concept in this world: even if the original ruler is really killed to the last one, the winner still has to choose a local People to fill the former position, even if the aristocratic class is eliminated and officials are assigned to centralize rule, the situation of the emperor is far away, and the bureaucrats will quickly evolve into warlords, separate one side, outward devotion but inner opposition to the king...

Anyone who tries to change the situation and break this status quo will face horrific resistance. And this is probably the most vivid example of "backward productive forces restrict the development of superstructures".

......

Three hundred years later, the family occupying Iron Throne has changed from Targaryen to Baratheon. As the youngest of the Eight Great Families, the background is insufficient and the foundation is not stable. Neither did he support any new loyal family after the Battle of the Reavers, nor did he have a great killing tool like the dragon... Sitting on the Iron Throne and ruling seven families with deeper roots than his own, he did not have the strength and means to solve this big problem. In the form of , the warrior who was once strong as an ox was actually quite uncomfortable as a king, and it is no wonder that he indulged in drinking and hunting all day long.

This is another true embodiment of "it is easy to fight the country, but it is difficult to defend the country". For the stability of his family's rule, Robert had to marry the daughter of the disgusted House Lannister, and left his adoptive father Duke Arryn in King's Landing as the Prime Minister. Coupled with the marriage relationship with the Stark and Tully families and the friendship that fought side by side, five families were formed. A huge alliance of nobles can force the remaining three families of Tyrell, Martell and Greyjoy to acknowledge allegiance as they have done to Targaryen over the past few hundred years.

Having said so much, I just want to explain one thing: the person sitting on the Iron Throne only has the title of king, and is actually on the same level as the other seven in terms of identity and strength. The control of the Kingdoms is entirely determined by strength and means: you have the upper hand, you are the king of the world, the king of Andals, Rhoynar and the "First Men", the ruler of the Seven Kingdoms and the Protector of the Realm; , it will be beaten back to its original form immediately: a big noble like everyone else can still become the target of looting and invasion.

Robert couldn't make an edict, so he pulled Eddard Stark, the actual ruler of the North, out of his comfortable nest and dragged him to King's Landing to wipe oneself's ass... In addition, the relationship between the two is more similar to brother Instead of a monarch and a minister, he has to make a trip in person, reasonable in every circumstance. Not only that, he also wants to form a family relationship by the way, so that the big alliance of the five families of deer, wolf, lion, eagle, and fish can continue even after the death of oneself, so that Baratheon can be like the other seven families throughout the ages .

Robert is a scoundrel king, but he was born into the Aristocratic Family, and his basic power tricks and strategic vision are not bad at all. So...he's here, and he'll be there for a while.

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Whether it's Gary and Will, who are closely related to the Night's Watch Rangers, or Waymar Royce, Benjen Stark, and even Lord Commander Mormont, who are of higher rank, or After coming to Winterfell, I saw a lot of Baratheon, Stark, Lannister, such as the king and queen... In fact, they are all different from the image Igor saw on the screen before crossing. This made him understand: what oneself has crossed into is a real world, not a television drama.

Fortunately, the recorded history, the development of the plot so far and the temperament of the characters he has come into contact with are still very similar to the stories he is familiar with. This is a huge cheat, so he only needs a little preparation, You can easily "talk to people and talk to ghosts", and interact with each character who has an impression of oneself in a targeted manner.

It has to be mentioned here. The two people who came to his room tonight are truly important characters: without any plot analysis, just look at the data, whether Tyrion Lannister and Jon Snow shape the length of the description in the original book, or the number of lines and shots in the play, They are all key figures who occupy the first and second place without suspense - even Dragonmother can only rank third.

If you think about heroes based on the sense of existence, it is not an exaggeration to say that these two people are the protagonists. Because of this, Igor read on the Internet before crossing the line about the growth process, mental process and character characteristics of these two people. There are countless character analyses, so-called bystanders are clear... Igor's understanding of the two "protagonists" may be more thorough than their oneself.

The evidence of the existence of Others didn't deter the illegal child, but made Jon's decision to join Night's Watch earlier by mistake. Not yet put on black clothes youth is still just a small role, but dwarf, nicknamed Imp, has already gained influence by virtue of his noble birth and wisdom... Now, Igor has received a promise from the latter to help, although it is only a verbal agreement, but Given what he knows about his character, Igor boldly decides to trust him.

But things are not so simple. After all, Tyrion is not a king, or even the real head of his own family. He is just a son of a nobleman, and everything he has comes from the powerful and wealthy father Duke Tywin. Although he is a candidate for House Lannister's theoretical successor, he is actually completely excluded from the core of power. He does not claim to help oneself leave Wall, and he will be able to do it.

In addition, according to the original plot development, dwarf actually can't leave North and return to King's Landing or Westerlands smoothly.

So, Igor had to worry about the other party before he really accepted Tyrion's help.

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(end of this chapter)